Alfred d



(NoModeH- A. D. FERGUSON.

REVERSING MECHANISM FOR STEAM ENGINES. No. 582,630. Patented May 18,1897.

.1217. 1 1 man UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

ALFRED D. FERGUSON, OF ODESSA, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO HARVEYN. BROWN, OF SAME PLACE.

REVERSING MECHANISM FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,630, dated May 18,1897.

Application filed April 25, 1896. Serial No. 589,082. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: designates thereciprocatory valve, which Beit known that I, ALFRED D. FERGUSON, is provided with a recess in itsinner side of Odessa, Lafayette county, Missouri, have which conforms tothe contour of the valve, 55 invented certain new and useful Improveasillustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4, and is 5 ments in ReversingMechanism for Steamadapted to communicate simultaneously with Engines,of which the following is a full, clear, the exhaust-port 6 and one ofthe inlet-ports 7. and exact description, reference being had to Thepiston-rod (not shown) is connected in the accompanying drawings,forming a part the customary manner to the crank-shaft S, 60 hereof.while the valve-stem 9 extends into the steam- 10 My invention relatesto reversing mechanchest 3 and is provided with a hook 10 at its ism forsteam-engines, and more especially end which slidingly engages a rib orprojecto an improvement over my invention as emtion 11 upon the valve 5in a manner clearly bodied in the patent on reversing mechanism shownand described in my aforesaid patent. 65 for steam-engines granted to meon July 21, At its opposite end it is connected to the ee- 15 1896, No.564,274. centric 12 in the customary manner, and said The presentinvention contemplates the eccentric is mounted rotatably upon theemployment,in connection with the valve conclutch-section 18, arrangedto oscillate upon struction therein shown, of additional mechthecrank-shaft 8. It is prevented from mov- 7o anism whereby each time thevalve is adinglongitudinally upon said shaft at one side justed toreverse the engine it will move obby means of a collar 14, securedrigidly by liquely in order to insure that a lead is obmeans of aset-screw 15 to the shaft, while at tained for the entrance of the steamto the its opposite side it is opposed by the clutchcylinder at alltimes. In my aforesaid invensection 16, which clutch-section is mounted75 tion the valve is adjusted to reverse the enloosely upon theshaftvand is provided with gine always at right angles toitsreciprocatory an inclined or cam slot 17, engaging a pin 18 movement,and it has been found in practice or antifriction-roller mountedthereon, which that the engine works more uniformly and projectsradially from the shaft 8, as shown satisfactorily by adjusting saidvalve obclearly in Fig. 2. Said clutch-section 16 is 80 liquely to itsreciprocatory motion and thereprovided eXteriorly with an annulargroove,

0 by obtaining a lead for the steam at all times, wherein is journaled acollar 19, and projectas hereinbefore explained. ing outwardly atdiametrically opposite points To this end the invention consists incerfrom said collar are the pins 20, engaged by tain new and peculiarfeatures of construclongitudinal slots in a yoke-shaped angle- 85 tionand combinations of parts, as hereinaf lever 21, mounted pivotally upona stub-shaft ter described and claimed. or pin 22, supported in asuitable manner.

In order that the invention may be fully Said lever is pivotallyconnected in turn by understood, reference is to be had to the acalink-rod 23 to the wrist-pin 24, projecting companying drawings, inwhichfrom a cog-pinion 25, mounted rotatably upon 90 Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a stationary a stubshaft projecting from one corner of 40engine provided with reversing mechanism the bracket or casting 26,secured to the embodying my invention, the frame of said steam-chest.Said pinion is engaged by a engine being broken away and its shaft showntoothed and segment shaped shifting-lever in section. Fig. 2 representsa plan view of 27, mounted upon a stub-shaft 2S, projecting 5 the same,except that the frame of the engine also from bracket or casting 26, andsaid lever is omitted. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken is providedwith the usual spring-actuated on the line 0000 of Fig. 1. Fig. lis aface view pin 29 to engage a notched sector 30, secured to illustrateclearly the relation between the rigidly to and projecting from thecylinder ports and the valve. or other part of the engine. Connected bya10o Referring now to the drawings in detail, 1 ball-and-socket joint, asat 31, to said lever,

designates the frame of a steam-engine, 2 the forward of its pivot, is alink 32, and said cylinder, and 3 the steam-chest. lever is pivotallyconnected to the lower end 4: designates the cap of the steam-chest. ofa bell-crank lever 33, mounted pivotally,

as at 34, in a bracket 35, secured to the steamchest and projectingupwardly therefrom. The opposite end of said lever is bifurcated andprovided with longitudinal slots 36, which engage loosely pinsprojecting outwardly from the collar 37, mounted rigidly upon the upperend of a rod 38, which extends upwardly into the steam-chest at rightangles to the valve stem and is secured rigidly to the rectangular frame39, which fits snugly against the end walls of the steam-chest, but isnarrower than the same, so that it may be moved laterally when the rod38 is reeiprocated to adjust the valve at right angles to itsreeiprocatory movement, in order to reverse the engine when necessary ordesirable. By thus adj ustin g the said frame, and thereby the valve,which it snugly embraces, the rib or projection 11 simply slides withinthe hook 10 of the valve-stem without interfering in the least with itsreciproeatory movement.

In operation the valve reciprocates longitudinally with the motionimparted to it by its eccentric connection by the crankshaft in thecustomary manner, and in case it is desired to reverse the engine it isonly necessary to operate in one direction or the other the frame 3.),in a manner clearly explained in my patent, to which reference has beenfrequently made. In the construction embodied in said patent, however,this lateral adjustment of the valve is accomplished by moving the frame39 by means of a lever operated entirely independent of the mechanismfor reciprocating the valve longitudinally. In the present construction,however, it is impossible to adjust the valve laterally by means of saidframe without at the same time changing its position longitudinally Withrelation to the shaft Sthat is to say, supposing the valve to be inposition as illustrated in Fig. 4, and it be desired to reverse theengine, the shifting-lever is thrown to the position indicated in dottedlines, thereby rotating the pinion 25 half-way around, or a distance ofone hundred and eighty degrees, which obviously, by reason of thecam-slot engaging the pin 18, causes the clutoh-section 10 to slideoutwardly upon the shaft in the direction indicated by the arrow a, andat the same time oscillate upon the shaft in the direction indicated bythe arrow Z), and this movement, owing to the fact that one of theshoulders of said clutch-section bears against the opposing shoulder ofthe section 13,rotatably operates said section also in the directionindicated by the arrow (1, and consequently changes the relation of theeccentric to the shaft, and thereby longitudinally adjusts or moves fora slight distance the valve within the steam-chest. At the sameinstant,through the medium of the link 313, the bell-crank lever 33, andthe rod or stem 38 of the frame 39, the latter adjusts the valvelaterally, and these two movements taking place simultaneousl yconsequently cause the valve to partake of the movement of each andthereby move obliquely or at an angle to both a direct longitudinal anda direct lateral movement. By such movement the valve when its lateralmovement is ended has assumed the position illustrated in dotted lines,Fig. 4, and exposes slightly one of the inlet-ports of the steam-chest,whereby a lead for the steam passing to the cylinder is obtained. Vhenthe shifting-lever is thrown to the position illustrated in dottedlines, it is obvious that it first moves the clutch-section 16 in thedirection indicated by the arrows (t and Z2, and thereby adjusts thesection 13, and then reverses such movement of the section 16 in orderto cause the other shoulder of the same to abut against the opposite oropposing shoulder of the clutch-section l3. \Vhen so arranged, toreverse the engine again and to obtain a lead at the same time it isonly necessary to swing the shifting-lever back to the position shown infull lines, and this operation obviously rotatably and longitudinallyadjusts the clutch-section 10 as before, and consequently rotates theclutch-section 13, by reason of the other pair of shoulders be ingengaged, back to its original positionthat is, to its original positionwith relation to the shaft 8, as will be readily understood. By suchoperation the clutch-section 16 is again brought into engagement withthe clutch-section 13-that is, with the shoulders originally or firstreferred to again in contact, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

From the above description it is obvious that I have produced amechanism whereby the valve can be obliquely adjusted and the leadconsequently obtained.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a steam-engine, a slide-valve therefor, and alaterally-adjustable frame embracing said valve, of a rotatable collarupon the crank-shaft, an eccentric mounted thereon and connected to thestem of the valve, and means to adjust said valve obliquelybysimultaneously moving its embracing frame laterally and saideccentricearryin g collar rotatabl y, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a steam-engine, a slide-valve therefor, and alaterally-adjustable frame within the steam-chest and embracing saidslide-valvc, of a clutch-section mounted rotatably upon the shaft of theengine, an eccentric mounted thereon and connected to the stem of thevalve, a second clutch-section upon said shaft and engaging thefirst-named clutch-section, and means to longitudinally and rotatablyshift said lastnamed elutch-section upon the shaft and simultaneouslymove the laterally-adjustable frame embracing the valve, substantiallyas set forth.

3. The combination with a steam-engine, a

slide-valve therefor, and a laterally-ad; ustable frame embracing saidslide-valve, of a clutch-section mounted rotatably upon the shaft of theengine, an eccentric rotatably mounted thereon and connected to the stemof the valve, a pin projecting radially from the shaft, a secondclutch-section mounted loosely upon the shaft and provided with aninclined slot engaging said pin, and means to move said last-namedclutch-section outwardly and thereby rotatably from its relation to thesaid pin, and simultaneously shift the 1aterallyadjustable frameembracing the valve, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a steam-engine, a slide-valve therefor, and alaterally-adjustable frame embracing said slide-valve, of aclutch-section mounted rotatably upon the shaft of the engine, aneccentric rotatably ALFRED D. FERGUSON.

Witnesses:

G. Y. THORPE, H. E. PRICE.

